Progenitor - Michael Jan Friedman [0]
Michael Jan Friedman
Based upon STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION®
created by Gene Roddenberry
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS
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Copyright © 2002 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
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Poul Anderson,
knight of ghosts and shadows
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Acknowledgments
I find myself once more indebted to a handful of good people, without whose loyalty, help and hard work I’d never have had the opportunity to put this book in your hands. I gratefully acknowledge the efforts of John Ordover, editor; Scott Shannon, publisher; Paula Block, executive director of publishing at Viacom Consumer Products; Dave Van Domelen, science maven; Gene Roddenberry and the illustrious writers and producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, who invented Jean-Luc Picard and the good ship Stargazer.
I’d also like to thank my wife and sons, who are kind enough to open my office door and throw in mail from time to time; my parents, who have been known to bring me citrus fruit so I don’t get scurvy in the manner of some fifteenth-century sailor; and my friends, who understandably have trouble believing I’m smart enough to write this stuff.
Chapter One
JEAN-LUC PICARD HAD LOST his fencing partner.
His name was Daithan Ruhalter. Ruhalter had also been Picard’s captain, his predecessor as commanding officer of the Stargazer.
Picard had been happy to discover that there was another fencer on the ship, a security officer by the name of Pierzynski, who had a good few inches on Picard and outweighed him by perhaps thirty pounds. Unfortunately, as Pierzynski had subsequently discovered, size and skill didn’t always go hand in hand.
At the moment, Picard enjoyed a four-touches-to-none advantage in a five-touch match. To this point, Pierzynski had failed to take advantage of his longer reach, just as he had failed to do so in the four matches that preceded this one.
Picard could have postponed the inevitable and toyed with the fellow for a while. However, he didn’t want to give Pierzynski the illusion that they were competitive enough for the captain to consider doing this on a regular basis.
It was unfortunate. Picard had hoped a good fencing session would distract him from what he was obliged to do when the Stargazer reached Starbase 42.
But Pierzynski hadn’t provided much of a distraction for him. The disposition of Caber and Valderrama still weighed heavily on the captain’s mind, making him wonder how he could ever have allowed himself to embrace those individuals in the first place.
Picard sighed. “En garde.”
Pierzynski raised his blade in response. Then, aggressive by nature, he took a step toward the captain.
Picard frowned. He didn’t even have